I can still remember our first VCR like it was yesterday. My dad brought it home in a box that was the size of the refrigerator.
We were living in the future!
We were so excited, that we invited my uncle’s family over to watch First Blood with Sylvester Stallone. We just had to fast forward the tape past War Games and Octopussy.
Not really knowing what to do, we simply held the FF button and pointed it at the VCR. And sure enough, that made the movie go faster.
Awesome!
What we didn’t know is that you could fast forward the movie, by hitting the FF button while the movie was stopped, making it go about 10x faster.
For the next hour, we took turns holding the remote control, until our thumbs were sore.
After 10 people had their turn, the movie was ready!
And after hearing a string of obscenities in the first two minutes, that would make George Carlin blush, I assumed the movie was over.
However, holding the fast forward button for that long seemed to trump these old Baptists’ desire to get that devil out of the VCR.
Having invested all of that time, we moved forward with our mistake. And I learned a bunch of new words.
Don’t get stuck with a mistake, because of time invested and misguided effort!
There is a lot of bad video out there that looks like poor time invested and misguided efforts.
Video is the majority of internet traffic and the best way to connect with your customers online.
This means you may decide to make your own video.
If so, here are 5 video mistakes to avoid.
Bad audio - Whether the video is a talking head or animation, bad audio can ruin a good video. We will watch a bad video with good audio, before we watch a great video with so-so audio.
Being boring - Yeah, I said it. And there is a metric ton of crappy video that is 5-10 minutes of somebody staring mindlessly into the camera and talking about themselves. Your video should tell a compelling story, with your customer as the hero. A story with you as the hero is boring. And the video needs movement, text, music, and some sound effects.
Adding the kitchen sink - Just because your video needs movement, text, music, and some sound effects, does not mean it needs to be overwhelming. Too much of anything is not good, and especially true for cookie dough. Most online video should be approximately 90 seconds. After that, you better be making the next Shawshank Redemption to keep people’s attention.
Skipping the Call to Action - Your video has a purpose. You want to educate, however, you also want people to take the next step. Add a strong call-to-action to the end of your video, i.e. contact me today, sign up for the seminar, click the buy button, etc.
Not being mobile-friendly - Way over half of web traffic is mobile and that is only going to increase. Make sure your font and props are large enough for a mobile screen.
Avoiding these mistakes will let you connect with your customer and increase your sales.
